Fashion Police Squad

Over the past few years, Boomer Shooters have regained some of their former dominance. What are Boomer Shooters? They are fast-paced action shooters that require quick reflexes and feature unusual mechanics.

Well, having said that, let's talk about an absurd but very funny proposal where we will have to solve crimes against fashion: Fashion Police Squad.

Developed by Mopeful Games, Fashion Police Squad is an FPS that seeks to recall those mythical times of DOOM, a title where you must be agile and eliminate many enemies, it’s as simple as that.

The title will take us to Trendopolis, where little by little several crimes against fashion start to happen. It could be people dressed entirely in grey, people with garments in garish colours or executives in suits that don't fit (among many other enemies).

We will step into the shoes of Sergeant Des and have to deal with this wave of bad taste, as we slowly realise that there is an even bigger crime in progress and that we are the only team that can stop these nefarious plans.

Something very curious about Fashion Police Squad, is that it is a total cliché. Not only is it a title that doesn't take its own story too seriously, but at the same time it is aware of the absurdity of the premise, allowing it to poke fun at situations from various angles.

Moreover, the title knows how to pace its moments well. It doesn't take more time than it should to tell its story and tries to leave the ending a bit open, not with any twist but by reminding us that the Fashion Police Squad will always have a new crime to solve.

Its mechanics is where it shines the most but, at the same time, this is the biggest problem with the game. At its core, Fashion Police Squad is a frenetic action FPS. Sergeant Des has access to 5 different weapons and each one will have its own secondary shot. Fortunately, almost all weapons will have infinite ammunition, so it won't be difficult to overcome many of the situations we have to face. Also, due to the game's roots, Mopeful aims to make everything much faster and although there is no DOOM-style heavy metal, at higher difficulty levels, the game will be unforgiving of mistakes that will easily lead to death.

Apart from Des' arsenal, we will also have a belt that will serve as a melee attack to stun some enemies in order to make combat easier and to move around certain areas where we will have to swing to overcome different obstacles.

Although the game doesn't have as much verticality as DOOM Eternal, the level design is quite good, not only because of how easy it is to move through the shootouts, but also because the areas don't feel too wide to hide and shoot in. Even using the belt to swing at certain moments is a lot of fun, whether it's to soar majestically while shooting at the ground, or simply to escape harm for a second.

So far so good, but then what's the problem we discussed earlier? Fashion Police Squad makes the mistake of linking weapons to certain enemies. For example, the shotgun will only be for enemies whose crime is related to the lack of colour in their attire. The SMG, which is a sewing machine, will be for enemies with wide or baggy suits and so forth. This takes away a lot of the potential of the gameplay, as the encounters become a bit clumsy, either because of the change of weapons or because of the variety of enemies where damage is only done with a certain weapon.

Visually we are faced with a fantastic title, the Pixel Art that the game uses stands out with many elements of colour and it also gives it a lot of personality. The effects are also quite detailed for the visual style, from the secondary fire of the SMG, to some of the fire attacks that leave enemies on the ground.

All the elements we have discussed above make Fashion Police Squad stand out and make it that bit more prominent in the world of Boomer Shooters. All in the name of fashion!